Happy #VITAAwarenessDay!

Joanna Ain & CAITLIN ARENAS MARTINEZ | MARCH 5 2019

Do you know what VITA is? No, it’s not a new gummy vitamin Or a high-end blender.

It’s a free tax filing program – fueled by thousands, helping millions get billions back. And it’s probably helping someone in your community right now.

Volunteers at 3,700 VITA sites in all 50 states are helping low- and moderate-income people (earning $55,000 or less) file their tax returns. Many of these filers are disabled, or don’t speak much English. In 2018, VITA volunteers prepared 1.3 million tax returns with a 93 percent accuracy rate, one of the highest in the industry, helping taxpayers get $1.9 billion back in refunds.

But more people qualify for these tax credits than are claiming them. One in five eligible workers are not getting tax credits they deserve, according to the IRS. That’s a gap the VITA program is trying to close.

VITA has been working successfully for 50 years. Because it has broad bipartisan support, Congress recently increased its funding by 20 percent to $18 million. That’s a move in the right direction – and we’re grateful to our elected officials for doing right by working Americans with VITA support.

Joanna Ain is a Senior Policy Manager at Prosperity Now, focusing on tax policy, emergency savings, children’s savings accounts and VITA (the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program). She is currently a proud VITA volunteer in Washington, D.C.